Olimpia Maidalchini (26 May 1591[1] – 27 September 1657), (also spelled Olympia and known as Donna Olimpia or Olimpia Pamphili), was the sister-in-law of Pope Innocent X (Pamphili). She rose to prominence as one of the most powerful women in Rome of her era and influenced foreign and domestic papal policy as well as several papal conclaves.

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Maidalchini was born in Viterbo, the daughter of Sforza Maidalchini, a condottiere, and Vittoria Gualterio, patrician of Orvieto and Rome, noble of Viterbo (illegitimate daughter of Sebastiano Gualterio, Bishop of Viterbo, Papal Nuncio to France and the Council of Trent). Her family was only moderately wealthy, but she married two wealthy men. Her first marriage to Paolo Nini lasted only a year or two. One of the wealthiest men in Viterbo, Nini died prematurely. Her second marriage was with Pamphilio Pamphili, brother of Cardinal Giambattista, the future Pope Innocent X.

Donna Olimpia Maidalchini is a woman of great spirit, but her sole title to influence is that of a rigid economist. When offices fell vacant at court, nothing was decided without her good pleasure; when church livings were to be distributed, the ministers of the dataria had orders to defer all appointments until, notice having been given to her of the nature of those benefices, she might then select such as best pleased her for her own disposal; if episcopal sees were to be conferred, it was to her that the candidates applied; and that which most effectually revolted every upright mind was to see that those were preferred who were most liberal in giving.

Afterwards, Innocent X promoted Francesco Maidalchini, the cousin of Olimpia Maidalchini, to replace Camillo Pamphili, but Francesco was viewed as incompetent and his appointment as disgraceful.[3] Thereafter, Innocent X adopted Camillo Astalli, and gave him the prerogatives of the cardinal-nephew on 19 September 1650,[3] including the Palazzo Pamphili.[4] However, Olimpia had Astalli deposed and sent away from Rome, making herself the "absolute mistress in the house".[4]

Like other Popes of the same era, Pope Innocent X, as Monarch of the Papal States, bestowed royal titles on some of his closest confidants and family. On 7 October 1645, Maidalchini received the honorific title, Princess of San Martino, effectively turning the small enclave of San Martino al Cimino into her personal principality. The title came with no more power or responsibility than that which she already held as Pamphili matriarch.

Maidalchini's influence waned after Innocent X recalled Fabio Chigi from Germany, made him secretary of state and subsequently a cardinal on 10 February 1652; Chigi succeeded Innocent X as Pope Alexander VII.[3]

According to papal historian Ludwig von Pastor, "the misfortune of Pope Pamphili was that the only person in his family who would have had the qualities necessary to fill such a position was a woman."[3]

Maidalchini's reputation can be seen in her unflattering bust by Alessandro Algardi (circa 1650), currently in the Doria Pamphili Gallery. Maidalchini was notorious for guarding access to Innocent X, and utilizing it to her own financial benefit. Her wired widow's hood in the bust was interpreted by Ann Sutherland[5] as a jab at the fact that neither Maidalchini nor her family provided for the burial of Innocent X after his death in 1655, which was paid for by Innocent X's former butler.

Eleanor Herman says that Olimpia locked the Pope alone in his chamber on the night from 26 to 27 December and she went to her palace in fear that the Pope died that night and that her palace was sacked and burned.[6]:361 The morning of the 27th, she was barred access to Innocent X's chamber, much to her chagrin since she was expecting to steal the two chests full of gold that were hidden under Innocent's bed.[6]:362 Right after Innocent's body was removed on 29 December, she entered the chamber, removed the chests, and then ran to her palace to lock herself in fear of what angry mobs could do to her.[6]:364 Olimpia, and many other people, removed papal treasures from the papal palace during the convalescence of Innocent,[7] to the point where he died in absolute poverty since everything had already been stolen from him by his last days of life.[6]:362–364 Olimpia allowed the pontiff's body to stay unburied for three days, and to be buried in "the simplest of forms imaginable".[7] claiming that she was a poor widow that couldn't arrange a proper burial.[8]

Some historians describe Innocent X as "entirely under the control" of Maidalchini.[9] This legacy is tied up in the accounts of the Roman Pasquinade as well as French (Innocent X had shunned France in favor of Spain[10] and Protestant sources.[3] The Catholic Encyclopedia refers to Maidalchini as the "great blemish" on the pontificate of the "blameless" Innocent X, whom it styles a "lover of justice."[11] Maidalchini is sometimes referred to as "the papessa" ("lady pope"), a variant of a title also applied to Pasqualina Lehnert (confidant of Pope Pius XII), and (the legendary) Pope Joan.[12] Some sources even allege that Maidalchini was Innocent X's lover, an accusation which goes back to Gregorio Leti's Vita di Donna Olimpia Maidalchini (1666), written under the pseudonym Gualdus,[11] and that she poisoned cardinals (with the help of her pharmacist, Exili) to open up additional vacancies for simony.[12] German historian Leopold von Ranke concluded that she was not Innocent X's lover.[4]

^Ludwig von Pastor: History of the Popes vol. 30, London 1940, p. 32, says that she was born in 1594 and this date is followed by many other authors. However, Eleanor Herman, a recent biographer of Olimpia, indicates that she was born on 26 May 1591 and that she died at the age of 66. She adds that this date is confirmed by the baptismal registers in the episcopal archive of Viterbo. An account on the website of the Galleria Doria-Pamphilj also says that she was born in 1591.

^ abWilliams, George L. (2004). Papal Genealogy: The Families and Descendants of the Popes. McFarland & Company. pp. 4,110,footnote in page 246. ISBN0-7864-2071-5. His corpse stayed for three days "in a damp corner of a sacristy and [was] buried in the simplest form imaginable" (citing Ludwig von Pastor's The History of the Popes, volume XXX, page 46)

^George L. Williams, Papal Genealogy: The Families and Descendants of the Popes, "'Donna Olimpia declared that she was a poor widow, and it was 'beyond her power' to have the body properly interred.", this is a cite of Leopold von Ranke's The History of the Popes, volume III, p. 36

According to Ms. Leone, there also is an added dimension in that Olimpia Maidalchini, the pope's sister-in-law, is considered to have been the driving force behind the building project. “This building is a very unusual example in Rome where a woman ...